A new plan for a new era: UN development agency charts course for development in 21st century

Nov 28, 2017

The UN’s development agency, the United Nations Development Programme, today launched a new and ambitious blueprint for development in the 21st century at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

“This is a new plan for a new era,” said Achim Steiner, Administrator of UNDP, at the Executive Board in New York. “The dramatic changes we see in the world have occurred on such a scale and at such a pace that our institutions are struggling to keep up. More is being demanded of us.”

President of the Board H.E. Mr. Ib Petersen, Permanent Representative of Denmark, said: “UNDP’s new strategic plan marks a welcome new direction for the Organisation to support the realisation of the 2030 Agenda. On behalf of the Executive Board, I welcome today’s endorsement of the plan as an essential tool for UNDP to continue to evolve and adapt over the next four years.”

“The nations of the world have committed to achieving the 2030 Agenda and the UN system has been tasked to support them,” Steiner continued. “This is the driving force of the Secretary-General’s UN reform agenda, and we must rise to the challenge.”

Anchored in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and committed to the principles of universality, equality and leaving no one behind, it sets out a vision for the evolution of UNDP over the next four years, responding to a changing development landscape and the evolving needs of partners. Building on UNDP’s 50 years of experience, it describes how UNDP will support countries to achieve the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals and related agreements.

“This plan has been designed to be responsive to the wide diversity of the countries we serve,” Steiner continued. “This diversity is reflected in the three broad development settings described in the plan: eradicating poverty; structural transformations; and building resilience. It also describes how our two new platforms; country-level and global, will enable UNDP to deliver our support in a more effective way.”

The plan identifies six “signature solutions” against which UNDP will now align its resource and expertise, to make a real impact on poverty, governance, energy access, gender equality, resilience and environmental sustainability.

As well as formally endorsing the plan, the Board approved UNDP’s integrated resources plan and integrated budget estimates 2018-2021.

UNDP’s Executive Board is made up of representatives from 36 countries and provides inter-governmental support to and supervision of UNDP activities, ensuring that the Organization remains responsive to the evolving needs of programme countries.